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View Full Version : Should I be concerned about Endometriosis?


KittyFish
Jun 18, 2014, 10:36 PM
Okay well... I'll try keep this short but there's a lot to say.

When I was about 14/15 (I'm 18 now), I was first taught about Endometriosis at school. After learning that chronic period pains and many of the other symptoms that I considered normal parts of my life could in fact be linked to having endometriosis, I became concerned and tried to follow up on finding out whether I had it.

I went to a family planning clinic to also start on the pill, but was denied an appointment with a gynecologist because the family planning nurse explained starting on the pill was one of the first things they would do anyway.

However, from what I understand, the contraceptive pill regulates hormones and can decrease pain, plus many other things. Yes it would cure my chronic pains, but it seems from what I know that it would act as a pain killer, not a cure.

Since then I've been on the pill and of course the pains went from being awful to bearable, although my periods are still long and heavy and not always on time. Because the pain had gone away the thoughts of endometriosis slipped my mind, until I ran out of pills and went off them for about two months. The chronic pains for the day before and first day of my period came back, and since then I've been noting all other strange symptoms that I usually ignored.

What I've had include:
-Cramping between periods, definitely around the time of ovulation but also at other times.
-When not on the pill, severe period pains that would often make it hard to walk/stand and I would usually take one day off school during those times.
-Mild aching during or after intercourse on occasion.
-Fatigue.
-I suffered a Urinary Tract Infection and I've heard that sometimes they can be related.
-Depression.
-Mild cramping around the time of bowel movement and before and after urination.
-Heavy periods that last about a week plus or minus a day.
-Frequent lower back pain (More likely because I'm a teenager huddled over my laptop and also do a lot of art that requires sitting slumped).
-Other digestive problems (constipation and gas especially around time of period or ovulation).

I know that there are other things such as Fibrosis, cysts, etc but also I had my local doctor do a recent general inspection of my uterus and ovaries after having strange bloating (which was later concluded to be related to stress) and she never brought up feeling anything out of place.

So much for keeping this short, but I needed to get it all down ':)

Thank you very much

smoothy
Jun 19, 2014, 06:12 AM
Instead of trying to self diagnose... (which untrained people will get wrong frequently)... you really should be getting a annual checkup anyway... but they aren't going to be checking you for endomitriosis usless they have a good reason to because most women don't have it.

Have you specifically brought this up to them, while in their office... and not just assume they would stumble upon something that's not part of a routine gynecological exam?

CravenMorhead
Jun 19, 2014, 07:07 AM
On top of what Smoothy said, why do you think your have anything wrong like endometriosis? There are a lot of women, for whatever reason, just have REALLY bad periods. I had a roommate that would curl up with a hot water bottle for a day or two during her period. There wasn't really anything wrong, it just REALLY sucked.

Regardless, anything we say here is pure speculation and you should be following up with this during your next scheduled OB/GYN appointment. You should probably schedule one for soon too.

DoulaLC
Jun 19, 2014, 03:33 PM
Get a recommendation for a gynecologist. They will likely do an ultrasound, which is one of the first checks often done to determine endometriosis. If you do have it, then you can discuss treatment options.